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Labor and business lobbyists are already lining up their troops for the battle over the Employee Free Choice Act.
AP Photo

Biz, Obama Face Off Over Health

Obama is winning an early victory on his health care reform plan in the economic stimulus legislation, which includes money to help doctors and hospitals put medical records online. But a clash over creating a public health insurance plan will likely be one of the toughest fights as he seeks to fulfill the broader aspects of his comprehensive plan.

Lining up against the public plan option are such lobbying behemoths as America’s Health Insurance Plans and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, trade groups representing the insurance industry and business community.

The groups, along with many Republicans, believe a public plan would eventually lead to government-run health care as Americans ditch their private coverage to enroll in the public plan.

Both AHIP and the Chamber bring serious resources to the table. Last year the two organizations spent at least $63 million lobbying Congress, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

But advocates for a public plan option are organized and well-funded and count among their supporters Obama and many Democratic congressional leaders.

Supporters argue that universal coverage is not possible without a public plan option. Their ranks include old-guard giants like Service Employees International Union and emerging player Health Care for America Now, formed to fight for a public plan and tighter regulation of private ones.

Last year, SEIU spent at least $1.7 million lobbying Congress, according to the center. Health Care for America Now, which counts SEIU as a member, spent about $15 million on paid media and grass-roots organizing, according to the organization.

— Chris Frates

Labor Gets Aggressive

Labor and business lobbyists are already lining up their troops for the battle over the Employee Free Choice Act.

Obama has hinted that he might try to avoid a major blowout between the two powerful interest groups by tweaking the legislation. But that may not satisfy either side and could simply embolden the fight.

Getting the so-called card check bill through Congress is the top priority for labor unions this year. The bill would allow workers to unionize if a majority publicly signs cards supporting forming a union. Labor leaders believe that the public vote will make unionizing easier and help boost lagging membership rolls.

Business groups argue that the public ballots required by the card check bill are undemocratic and would further depress hiring.

Both sides are pouring resources into the fight, organizing grass-roots networks and launching advertising campaigns.

While Big Business outspends labor on lobbying — $82 million to labor’s $29 million last year — labor can make up some distance in manpower. The AFL-CIO, for instance, transformed its 2008 campaign field structure from electoral politics to a card check mobilization campaign, with hundreds of staffers in key states.

— Lisa Lerer

Climate Divides Old Guard

The Obama administration’s aggressive emission reduction goals and cap-and-trade proposals are already prompting divisions among the old guard of last year’s climate fight.

The Chamber of Commerce is in a somewhat precarious position, according to inside sources. It has yet to unveil the details of its position, while several of its high-rolling members have already backed an emission reduction plan by the U.S. Climate Action Partnership — which may be too aggressive for the Chamber’s liking.

The Chamber opposed last year’s cap-and-trade bill by Sens. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) and John Warner (R-Va.), warning that a tough carbon cap would decimate the nation’s economy.

The climate partnership supported elements of last year’s legislation but never made a formal endorsement. This year, the group’s proposal commits to an ambitious emission reduction rate.

That means lobbying power from defecting Chamber members, including General Motors and Duke Energy, could aid middle-of-the-road environmentalists. General Motors spent nearly $10 million lobbying in the first three quarters of last year, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, and Duke Energy spent $3.7 million over the same period.

Environmentalists are seeing similar fission. The National Wildlife Federation pulled out of the climate coalition because the proposal wasn’t tough enough on carbon emissions, while Environmental Defense Fund remains a supporter.

It’s unclear if any industry groups will get behind the most aggressive environmentalists, who still can’t match the money power of the business sector. The Wildlife Federation spent only $460,000 in the first three quarters of last year. Greenpeace, another prominent group, spent only about $56,000 in the same period.

Helping the greens: Many of Obama’s transition aides had strong ties to the Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank that has an influential voice in the cap-and-trade fight.

Readers' Comments (15)

The two party duopoly is closing doors on skeletons, and threatening to open others for more mischief, like federalizing insurance regulation. This is not a question of additional Federal oversight of insurance. This is a question of further financial consolidation at a time when 'too big to fail' has been redefined. This is potentially the other shoe dropping from the 1999 partial repeal of Glass-Steagel by the GRAMM-LEACH-BLILEY ACT, the merger of Citi Bank and Travelers Insurance, and the threat of national insurance. Presently each state regulates insurance, which inhibits consolidation, and compartmentalizes loss,ie; FL pays through the nose for hurricanes while GA doesn't. Federalizing insurance completely ignores the fact the COMMODITY FUTURES MODERNIZATION ACT of 2000 specifically prohibited regulation of CREDIT DEFAULT SWAPS insurance companies issued, but federalizing regulation would ease health care reform. By necessity, Wall Street is at the bargaining table. They have yearned for federalizing insurance regulation for years, and using the AIG fiasco CFMA 2000 created as justification, Obama will deliver it in exchange for support of health care reform which state regulation inhibits. The federal regulatory option would open the door for massive contraction of the insurance industry in exchange for the standards of the same people who regulate national banks.

: The REALITY is the Employee Free Choice Act Helps American Workers and their Families. Despite the need for reform, critics of EFCA continue to misinform the public about the bill and hide the serious shortcomings of current labor law.

Democrats are committed to setting the record straight and passing this important legislation on behalf of American workers and their families.

MYTH: EFCA will prevent the use of secret-ballot elections.

REALITY: EFCA does not strip workers of their right to choose a secret-ballot election to decide whether to select -- or not to select -- a union representative. EFCA simply gives workers the additional option of selecting a union representative by majority sign-up.

The Employee Free Choice Act is nothing new it only reestablishes the Joy Silk Doctrine of 1949 History

In 1949, the NLRB's Joy Silk Doctrine established that "an employer could lawfully refuse to bargain with a union claiming representative status through possession of authorization cards only if he had a 'good faith doubt' as to the union's majority status.This policy was changed in 1966 with the ruling in Aaron Brothers, where "the Board made it clear that it had shifted the burden to the General Counsel to show bad faith and that an employer 'will not be held to have violated his bargaining obligation... simply because he refuses to rely upon cards. 'If passed, the proposed Employee Free Choice Act would return the NLRB policy to the Joy Silk Doctrine and allow employer challenges to card check elections only when illegal coercion or fraud is charged.

Gays in the military. As a retired military professional, there is an aspect of this argument that is rarely discussed. This is the issue of AIDS. With the very high percentage of AIDS in the gay population there is a danger on the battle field to all service members. I and many others in the military were and are willing to fight for their country. On the battlefield there are casualties. There is no time to take precautions when your buddy's life is bleeding out. As tragic as that is, it would be more terrible to survive the war and wounds only to die of AIDS from an infected comrade. Once on the battlefield, a soldier cannot choose not to save a comrades life, even at risk of his/her own. Why should we endanger our soldiers to satisfy a very few. This would also affect morale. Gays have a chosen lifestyle and that lifestyle is dangerous. Perhaps there will be a vaccine someday. Until then let us try to keep our military as safe as we can.

Why do we need EFCA at all. If the unions are doing a good job people will sign up. If they are not then people will not sign up. EFCA will allow unions to know who voted for and against them. The unions (all of them) are run by the mob. The union bosses have to justify their own existance. They always have and will continue to strong arm oppostion to their decisions. Unions are a contribution to the failure of the American Auto industry. A new union employee can make more money and benefits without a GED than an RN with a 4 year degree. I know because I watched it happened.

Unions drive up costs without providing the benefits to the workers they once did. In all of the Auto bailout did anyone ask how much the top 3 people in the UAW made? No I thought not.

: The REALITY is the Employee Free Choice Act Helps American Workers and their Families. Despite the need for reform, critics of EFCA continue to misinform the public about the bill and hide the serious shortcomings of current labor law.

Democrats are committed to setting the record straight and passing this important legislation on behalf of American workers and their families.

MYTH: EFCA will prevent the use of secret-ballot elections.

REALITY: EFCA does not strip workers of their right to choose a secret-ballot election to decide whether to select -- or not to select -- a union representative. EFCA simply gives workers the additional option of selecting a union representative by majority sign-up.

Reality. Three union strong arms approach you and "suggest" that you sign the card opting for a union. You can' of course" decline. And you can end up in the gutter with a broken arm as well.

Of course the "secret ballot" is still avqailable, but it is unlikely to be the option used in union organizing once the legislation is passed. Its kind of like recruiting football players for college. You can go as a walk-on and pay all your tuition yourself, or you can accept a scholarship and then abide by the rules of the Coaching staff.

The unions have a long history of involvement with organized crime. Many union leaders and organizers have spent years in jail for illegal activity. And these new rules make it much easier to "unionize" a workplace. Who do you think is going to be approaching comapnies and businesses saying "You can be "organized", or not. What's it worth to you?"

This is not for the "workers". It is for the union obsses, and it may also be for mob bosses as well. It is a sham. If workers want to be represented by a union, the rules are in place to permit them to vote on that issue and decide to form a union. They have a secret ballot so that they cannot be intimidated by an "organizer". That is the way our nation was founded, a free and unforced individual decision baked up by a secret ballot. That is how it should remain.

These two, which Obama has said will be at the "top" of his agenda in his early presidency, will shed a lot of blood. And because of that, they will be dropped, or a simple "band-daid" will be slapped on them to cover them up for the near term. Dems are psychologically, politically, and risk-averse to the degree that they cannot embrace meaningful reform in these areas. They have demigogeued the issue for too many years to find a safe back door without betraying too many of their own hypocritical statements.

The Dmes ha ve a HUGE majority in congress and a compliant President, but they will back down on these issues because they are simply too cowardly to address them in any meaningful manner!

Gays in the military. As a retired military professional, there is an aspect of this argument that is rarely discussed. This is the issue of AIDS. With the very high percentage of AIDS in the gay population there is a danger on the battle field to all service members. I and many others in the military were and are willing to fight for their country. On the battlefield there are casualties. There is no time to take precautions when your buddy's life is bleeding out. As tragic as that is, it would be more terrible to survive the war and wounds only to die of AIDS from an infected comrade. Once on the battlefield, a soldier cannot choose not to save a comrades life, even at risk of his/her own. Why should we endanger our soldiers to satisfy a very few. This would also affect morale. Gays have a chosen lifestyle and that lifestyle is dangerous. Perhaps there will be a vaccine someday. Until then let us try to keep our military as safe as we can.

I am a vet too. I know that there are a myriad of problems that face leaders in trying to incorporate gays into the military. On the other hand, I am sure that gays, as it is with straights, will be screened for HIV/AIDS. And some type of regimen will have to be put in place to test everyone on a periodic basis for such infections. I don't see this particular issue as being impossible to overcome.

Don't get me wrong. I have major problems with ending the "don't ask, don't tell" and fully "embracing" gays in the military. IADS is not the big issue, however, at least in my opinion. It wold be a huge problem now, if this was important (there are gays in the military).

Unionization is important. The Bush deficits alone auger future inflation at a high level, the bailout and stimulus are worse, and unions would promote worker wages to make such an inflation a more fair and equitable tax. If wages are merely depressed, the worker will more nearly pay the whole tax with all the demerits that will mean to health care, general education, and life style. The impoverishment of the workers and the sinking of the middle class reduces consumption and leaves the rich nothing but speculative investments to spend their money on. These speculative investments will hover over a declining "real" economy, rushing the country's further degradation. The EFCA is just one leg up. The NLRB has to restore policies of the 1960s when it actually protected worker conditions. The minimum wage has to be further increased and increased further in response to the inflation.

These first comments on the article are so cogent that I am inclined to think the Politico Team has solicited them! It's time to turn a little wacko. I have great sympathy with Tom Gold's theory that "fossil fuels" are inorganic and rise from the earth's core. Possibly, nuclear processes happen under conditions of high energy to fission iron/nickel. We know that temperatures less than 2.7 degrees Kelvin cause matter to form the Bose/Einstein Condensate and this might shift in and out with a tendency to release energy by fusion. Anyway. If oil is squeezed from the core, it has always tended to ooze out to vaporize or burn. The present pollution due to burning fossil fuels is merely an acceleration of a natural process. As we sink our wells deeper or empty lesser pools of oil, the expense will bring us to more sustainable sources, turning the pollution to ordinary levels. Etc, Etc. Anyway, the global warming due to carbon pollution is a transitory phase. This argument, aside from being questionable science, has the demerit of supposing a phase has no permanent effects. Unfortunately, nothing we do will prevent the temperature from continuing to rise since it lags the cause and there are no plans to reduce carbon pollution so radically as to overcome that. So, it would be best if this theory were the fact. What we might do is to try to plant more trees and protect the jungle. Trees and jungles sequester carbon. That this is simple good sense and has no prospects what so ever merely demonstrates the hopelessness of transforming human nature on a basis of reason.

The U.S.Chamber of Commerce is an enemy of the American worker and is pulling out all stops to increase foreign worker visas, increased legal immigration and amnesty for illegal aliens. All in the name of cheap labor. Cheap for the corporations and increased profits, lower wages and loss of income for legal residents and citizens. With that group at the table, they won't leave until the bones of this country have been picked out and doled according to what is in the interest of big business.

The U.S.Chamber of Commerce is an enemy of the American worker and is pulling out all stops to increase foreign worker visas, increased legal immigration and amnesty for illegal aliens. All in the name of cheap labor. Cheap for the corporations and increased profits, lower wages and loss of income for legal residents and citizens. With that group at the table, they won't leave until the bones of this country have been picked out and doled according to what is in the interest of big business.

Here is the problem in a nutshell. Of Obama's speech 01/08/09, "I think he’s going to find some serious challenges, beginning with his pledge to pay for everything," said Bruce Josten, chief lobbyist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "Every line item in the budget has a constituency, both outside of Congress and inside of Congress." In other words, every tax & regulatory distortion has a narrow/special interest lobbyist with a check book. It is absolutely stunning the U.S. CHAMBER of C. has become so deluded/distorted/perverted as to oppose paying for government spending.

Politico : The new president’s position on scrapping the ban on gays serving openly in the military may be a one-word yes, but overturning the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy will be anything but simple-

Nothing new here , since long tehre is that "gay is OK " thing in the armed Forces .

Politico . Lobbyists with financial service clients will have little time to catch their breath after the economic stimulus before a new fight will be upon them: the overhaul of the financial regulatory system......The industry is also bankrupt of moral authority.

So let it die and no more bailouts ( neither "stimulus" for these cats)

Politico . Obama is winning an early victory on his health care reform plan in the economic stimulus legislation, which includes money to help doctors and hospitals put medical records online.

you didn't tell it all and we know there is nothing as a free handout there

why do I think "corruption" when I hear "lobbying" ? where is the border between "lobying" and plain "corruption " ? Are K Street Moguls cleaner than Rob Blago ?

If you think Chicago politics is corrupt, wait until the Union bosses get their way. I am 61 years old, worked 17 years at GM's Fisher Body plant in Fairfield, Ohio, and personally experienced the pressures of the Union to give them free reign over our employer and our work ethic. I don't know how many times my family and I were threatened for not "toeing the line" to the Union bosses unrealistic demands. I enjoyed my work, was way over paid for what I did, and the Union became irrate when I worked "too hard". I remember when they told us to leave "a few bolts off" of the cars we were assembling, so that they could have more "bargaining power" with GM. The Union didn't give a damn that they were endangering the lives of the familes that purchased the cars.

The Unions single handedly destroyed employers, work ethics, pride of craftsmanship and the entire manufacturing industry. Now, they want to take back control of our industries and our lives. I chased Union thugs away from my car and off of my property by gun point many times before; and, there is no doubt that I will be doing it again if the Unions get "Card Check" passed.